Nifty Little Laundry Spoon

Yesterday I posted a tutorial about how I make my own laundry soap.  (Click here if you missed it!)  It takes 2 Tbsp of soap to clean a load of laundry.  I never bother to measure because it’s just not practical to keep a measuring spoon near the detergent.  My “system” up until now has been to just leave a small food storage container floating in the bucket of soap and eyeball it.

My friend Kristi from Hip Green Baby sells all kinds of cloth diapers and cloth diaper accessories.  One of her accessories is this nifty little laundry measuring spoon which she sells for $3.50!  One side measures a Tablespoon, the other measures a teaspoon.  In honor of laundry week on the blog, I picked one up yesterday.  I figure that the amount of laundry soap I save by actually measuring and using only what I need will easily cover the $3 I spent for the spoon!



What’s really great about this spoon is those little round dots you see on top.  Those are magnets… So you can store your measuring spoon right on the side of the washing machine where it will always be handy!  (Or on the back of your washing machine, just out of sight if you’ve got inquisitive toddlers!)



If you want a nifty little laundry spoon for your home, you can buy one here.  Hip Green Baby is a great company run by a Work-At-Home Mom to six children.  It is a great local, home-based business to support!   Of course if you don't live locally, perhaps you could achieve the same effect by gluing a magnet to the front of a measuring spoon! 

How to Make Your Own Laundry Soap (Tutorial)

“Laundry” seems to be the theme of the week here at the Good Old Days Farm!  I’ve been doing plenty of it!  Last week I posted my good friend Pam’s incredible Laundry System that keeps her from getting behind and overwhelmed by laundry!  (If you haven’t read that post yet, it’s definitely worth the read!).  And of course, the dryerball giveaway ends this Thursday, so be sure to enter if you haven’t yet!

Then yesterday, I ran out of laundry soap.  Not good, because I’ve got a huge pile of dirty (read:  “stinky”!) diapers that need … um… attention.  So today I’m making laundry soap.  It’s so easy, dirt cheap (no pun intended) and it hardly takes any time.  It sure isn’t as hard as loading 3 little farmhands into the van, buckling everybody’s carseat, driving to the store, unbuckling everybody’s carseat, going in to the store, getting laundry detergent, going to the bathroom 3 times while we’re in the store because “I know I went, but I have to go again… really bad!” checking out, then repeating the whole carseat scenario in reverse to get home. 
So, today I thought I would show you how I make laundry soap.

(Now keep in mind that we live on a FARM and I have TODDLERS.  We get crazy-dirty.  These pictures are for mothers of crazy-dirty families who need to make 18 gallons of laundry soap at once.  If you’re just a normal family, you probably can get by making 1/3 of this at a time… so I’ll give the directions in two batch-sizes)

Here’s what you’ll need to make the soap.  I was able to buy enough ingredients at Kroger’s to last our family at least a year (maybe 3!) for under $10.

 

(Oops!  I forgot to include soap in the picture – 1 bar for regular families, 3 bars for crazy-dirty families!)

Ingedients:

• Washing Soda (This is NOT the same as Baking Soda!)  1 cup for normal families, 3 cups for crazy-dirty families.  Washing Soda can be a little difficult to find… I was able to find some in the laundry aisle of Kroger’s.
  
• Borax (optional, but it really helps to boost the soap’s cleaning power)  1/2 cup for normal families, 1 1/2 cups for crazy-dirty families
  
• Soap (use whatever type you have on hand.  Since I make soap, I often just use scraps.  In this case I had some old dried up bars of ivory kicking around from my pre-soapmaking days.  You do NOT have to buy special soap for this!)  1 bar for normal families, 3 bars for crazy-dirty families
  
• Water

First, I set a pot of water on the stove to boil.  (4 cups for normal families, 12 for crazy-dirty families.)  While I’m waiting, I grate the soap.  You can see in this picture that the ivory was so old that it crumbled.  Usually you would have long shreds, as if you had been grating cheese.

When the water is boiling (or close to it) I add the grated soap.  Then I let it dissolve in the boiling water, stirring occassionally.

Now, I do the next step in an 18 gallon storage container, but if you are making the smaller batch, you would use a 5 gallon bucket for this next step.  Whichever you are using, fill the container a little over halfway with water.  (Technically you’re supposed to put in 3 gallons for normal families, 9 gallons for crazy-dirty families… but I just eyeball it.)  To this, add the washing soda and borax.  Then, pour the dissolved soap and boiling water from the pot into the main container.  (Be careful!  Boiling water is hot!)  You can see the nice sudsy concoction:



Then put the lid on it and let it sit overnight.  It has occurred to me that a small child might be able to pop the lid off and then flip into this and not be able to get out, so take steps to prevent that.  (I have been known to put a playpen upside down over my laundry detergent bucket).  Wait 24 hours and you will have laundry soap! 

Here’s what it looks like after a really good stir!

I’ve seen many websites that say to use 2 Tbsp of laundry soap per medium sized load… but I rarely have a medium sized load!  I guess I usually use just less than 1/4 cup per extra-large load.

Several women I know have special high-efficiency machines that they can only use low-sudsing formulas with.  So you can judge for yourself, here’s a load of bed sheets mid-cycle.

 

For those of you who are more detail-oriented than I am, there is a wonderful blog post over at TheSimpleDollar.com which is where I learned how to do this.  That post goes through all the math and shows you how much money you are saving.  That guy also has pictures of an experiment where he poured mustard onto two white shirts to show how this laundry soap compares to Tide with Bleach (both cleaned equally well).  Definitely a post worth checking out!

A Laundry System that Works!

Laundry overwhelms me.  I love the little farmhands, but they sure go through a lot of clothes!  One time I counted that in only 3 days, Little Messy Farmboy went through 48 different items of clothes (pants, shirts and underwear).  And that’s just one child.  There never seems to be an end to it… No hope in sight…  Poor me… Poor me… All this laundry… This is my life… Poor me…  Ever felt like that?  Then I met my friend Pam.  She has 6 children.  SIX.  Count them:  1 – 2- 3- 4- 5- 6!  The amazing thing is, there is never any dirty laundry at her house.  It turns out, she has a great laundry system that actually works!  She has even learned to enjoy her laundry time!  Someone who enjoys doing laundry for a family of 8?  I’m pretty sure I can learn something from someone like that, so I asked her to share her system.  If you’ve been looking for a way to organize your laundry, this post is for you!  Even if you don’t have 6 children, this post is definitely worth taking the time to read!  Here it is, in her own words:


“The system is pretty simple, but like most things it requires consistency and discipline. I'm a pretty organized and neat person by nature, but I used to have a major laundry problem. Very simply, I hated it!!
My first step was to weed out clothes and really keep only the things we really loved/enjoyed. I was blessed with lots of hand-me-downs, and a great thrift store. I realized that having so many items for each child was allowing me to use them as a crutch. I had a hamper in each closet and they were always full & overflowing and it didn't matter. There were plenty of other clothes! So, I got rid of all the hampers in the house. Now we use the washer as a hamper:

In the evening when everybody changes into pjs we all bring our clothes down and put them in a clean, dry washing machine. First thing in the morning I open my washer and it is full of the previous day’s dirty clothes.

I sort the clothes into basic darks, colors and lights, then and begin the wash. This is a pretty light day, but I usually do 3-4 loads a day. Sometimes not so much.   Then, as soon as the laundry is dry, I fold it right there:

Any ironing gets hung up until Monday.  That’s when I do ironing and sheets and towels.  I do sheets on rotation:  Mine one week, Girls’ the next week and Boys’ the following week.

By the washer & dryer I have a small wicker basket for each child. When the clothes come out of the dryer, they are immediately folded and put into the appropriate basket:

My goal is for all laundry to be done by 4. When I say “done” it must be put away, too. The final step is that all my happy helpers scamper off to put their fresh, clean laundry away.  Now my washer is empty and dry and it’s ready for them to put their dirty clothes in in the evening.

I said the first thing I did was weed out clothes, but actually the first thing that I had to do was change my attitude. I have actually come to love laundry. I'm thankful for my houseful that requires all these duds! I pray over the items as I'm washing/drying/folding. It's actually become a ministry for me. It's the first thing I offer to someone who's going through a rough patch, new baby, etc. If you'd have told me that years ago I would have laughed like a crazy woman! Learn to love it and it changes things. Hope this helps!”




I have implemented Pam’s system in my home and I love it!  The one minor change I have made is instead of using the washing machine as a hamper, we have 2 hampers side-by-side in the bathroom.  One is for colors and one is for whites.  Everyone is trained to put their laundry in the correct hamper, so it is like the laundry automatically sorts itself!  I also have one lingerie bag for each member of the family.  Everyone puts their socks into their own bag and then the entire bag gets thrown into the washing machine.  This makes matching up socks so much easier!

For me, the keys to making this system work have been:  1 – weeding out the clothes so that we have just what fits and what we like, 2 – changing my attitude and praying for the people whose clothes I am folding.  If I have a lot of laundry to put away, I will put a ladies retreat CD on to listen to while I work.  Then, my body is folding laundry but my mind is communing with God!

Are you inspired by Pam’s Laundry system?  Ready to make some changes at your house?  To help you get started, we are hosting a laundry-related giveaway:  Dryerballs!  Click here to be taken to the Dryerball giveaway!

A big thank you to Pam Graham for sharing her laundry system (complete with her photos!) with us!